Kristen Stewart is set to play the late Princess Diana in a new film, Spencer.
According to Deadline, who announced the news first, the drama will be set in the “early 90s when Diana decided her marriage to Prince Charles wasn’t working, and that she needed to veer from a path that put her in line to one day be Queen.”
Taking place over three days, we will see the Princess of Wales in one of her final Christmas holidays at their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.
Chilean director Pablo Larraín (Ema) will lead and produce the project — it is expected to begin production in early 2021.
In an interview with Deadline, Larraín said that he grew up on “fairy tales”, however, Princess Diana’s story quickly became the complete opposite.
“When someone decides not to be the queen, and says, I’d rather go and be myself, it’s a big big decision, a fairy tale upside down,” he said.
“I’ve always been very surprised by that and thought it must have been very hard to do. That is the heart of the movie.”
Larraín called the tale of Diana the Princess of Wales “a great universal story” that is able to reach millions of people and that’s what they’ve set out to do.
“We want to make a movie that goes wide, connects with a worldwide audience that is interested in such a fascinating life.”
Stewart is, of course, a surprising choice to play the leading lady. She’s an American actress, where Diana was British. Surely a British actress could’ve had a look in?
One argument for Stewart’s casting is that she grew up on the set of Twilight, which gave her a similar “fishbowl life” that Princess Diana was attuned to. Perhaps it’s this energy and experience that she can channel and bring to the role.
“Kristen is one of the great actors around today,” Larraín said. “To do this well, you need something very important in film, which is mystery. Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile an ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need,” he told the outlet.
The film will not show Diana’s tragic death, but will look at her relationship with Prince Charles and her two sons, Princes William and Harry.
“I’ve always been intrigued and fascinated by the Royal Family and how things are in that culture, which we don’t have where I come from,” Larraín said. “Diana is such a powerful icon, where millions and millions of people, not just women, but many people around the world felt empathy toward her in her life. We decided to get into a story about identity, and around how a woman decides somehow, not to be the queen,” he said.
While the story goes much deeper than these three days, Larraín believes it is a pivotal time in the Princess’ life.
“You’re able to get into a wider, bigger perspective of who she was. We all know her fate, what happened to her, and we don’t need to go there. We’ll stay in this more intimate space where she could express where she wants to go and who she wants to be.”
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